Misc Studies (44)

Pastors will benefit from the simplicity and exuberance conveyed throughout this book and expressed in the author`s opening statement: "There is nothing more awe-inspiring and more blessed than the service of pastorship." First published in Russia in the 1930s, this volume nevertheless retains the essence of pastoral work in ever-changing circumstances and cultures: the formation and eternal destiny of the human soul. The author passionately writes about this unchanging ministry, and his words remain refreshingly timely, especially in an era marked by temptations to follow material excess and success.

In this present work, Father Jean Danielou provides us with a learned, yet readable treatment of the mission of the angels in the economy of salvation. He begins by following a historical order, dealing with the angels in the world before the Incarnation, during our Lord's earthly life, and presiding over the growth and development of the Church. We then have luminous chapters on the guardian angels, on the angels and the sacraments, the spiritual life, death and the second coming. Father Danielou's work is notable for its synthesis which it achieves between the teaching of the Church Fathers and later theological speculation on the angels. It fills a gap of long-standing in theological literature, and may be read with great profit by students and the general public alike.

This volume, the third in a collection of sermons by Fr Alexander Schmemann, is on a topic that was particularly close to his heart: the Virgin Mary. The Theotokos, as Mary is usually referred to among the Orthodox, figures prominently in Byzantine liturgical worship. While no single service is without one or more references to her, Eastern Orthodox theological manuals have little
to say about Mary beyond repeating the primarily Christological titles affirmed by the Third Ecumenical Council — Theotokos, Birthgiver of God.